Maybe we need a prime minister

Having survived the Civil War, this country should know better than to treat the latest government shutdown as the political equivalent of the Bible’s depiction of Earth’s last days.

The American political system may be stalled, but it isn’t time for a mercy shot to put it out of its misery. Rather, the mess in Washington should motivate people to use the best means they have to push their government out of its funk: going to the polls and voting.

There’s a caveat to that prescription, however. If voters do no more than pull the lever for a label, instead of a person, they will continue to elect politicians who don’t recognize the word compromise as part of the English language — politicians who think it’s treason to part from their faction for any reason.

Government can’t function without compromise. That point was reiterated recently by a number of essayists commenting on the political theories of the noted Yale professor Juan Linz, who died last week. Linz believed political systems with strong presidencies are doomed to fail. He preferred parliamentary systems, with prime ministers who are forced to form coalitions to govern.

Linz wrote a two-volume book on the subject, “The Failure of Presidential Democracy,” in which he used Latin American presidencies as examples of flawed governments. He maintained that when a president and a congress are elected by separate constituencies, it’s difficult for them to rule together.

That type of difficulty is what this country seems to be experiencing now. That failure won’t be final. The evidence is in the 237 years this government has endured, even through the aforementioned Civil War. People are losing patience, though, for a remedy to begin to work its magic.

The remedy is stronger leadership to reach the compromises that Washington has evaded for too long. Maybe they’re waiting for a prime minister.

After a long run in the Tampa Tribune sports department, Joe Henderson now shares his thoughts on the people and places that make up daily life in our city.

Tom Jackson

Tom Jackson’s baseball card — if he had one — would report he throws left, writes right. In his columns and blog, “The Right Stuff,” southpaw Jackson provides insight into the evolving human condition from a distinctly conservative point of view.Column | Blog